Broadway finds its 'Spider-Man' in Reeve Carney

By MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP
Fri Nov 6, 6:59 PM EST
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NEW YORK — Broadway has found its Spider-Man — rock singer Reeve Carney.

Carney will portray celebrated web-slinger Peter Parker in "Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark," producer Michael Cohl announced Friday.

The lavish musical is still scheduled to open sometime in 2010 at the Hilton Theatre. Dates will be announced. The show has had a troubled history, with work on the musical stopped last summer because of financial difficulties. New financing is expected to be in place shortly, according to its producers, and then full production on the musical, which reportedly has a budget of upward of $40 million, will begin.

Said Cohl: "Knowing the details and intricacies of this wildly ambitious project, I want to 'turn off the dark' on all the wild speculation about the show — it's moving forward!"

The Hilton, one of Broadway's largest theaters, has undergone extensive renovation to accommodate "Spider-Man," which will be directed by Julie Taymor and features a score by Bono and The Edge of U2.

"With a team that includes Bono, Edge and Glen Berger (who co-wrote the book with Taymor), there was never a question in my mind that 'Spider-Man' would happen — it was just when," said Taymor, the creative force behind one of Broadway's biggest current hits, "The Lion King."

Carney is lead of the rock band Carney, which has just released its first full-length album, "Mr. Green." The 26-year-old performer has appeared in several films including Taymor's upcoming adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Tempest," in which he plays Ferdinand.

The cast also includes Evan Rachel Wood as Mary Jane Watson, Parker's girl friend, and Alan Cumming in the role of Norman Osborn, also known as the villainous Green Goblin.

The story for the musical was inspired by the Marvel comic books hero — who has also inspired three hit movies — and will include the story of his origins as well as new material.

Other members of the show's production team include set designer George Tsypin — who did the sets for "The Little Mermaid" on Broadway — costume designer Eiko Ishioka, lighting designer Donald Holder of "The Lion King" and sound designer Jonathan Deans who has worked for Cirque du Soleil.